Louis Latour 2009 Chambertin

A local store is discounting its few remaining bottles of the 2009 Louis Latour Chambertin (Hertieres) for $180 per, which seems reasonable for a Grand Cru? Has anyone tried this wine or have thoughts on whether this looks like a solid deal? One concern is the wine has likely been on the store shelf for several years. Thanks!

It’s an ok deal. Calvert Woodley has it for $189 right now.

Have you tried other Louis Latour reds and liked them? The reds have a rep as being clumsy, and nothing you’d want in a red burgundy. I haven’t tried them myself, I can’t vouch for that assessment. But I do know that I’d try some other Latour red before jumping in for $180. For $180 you find some great burgundy, without the risk.

The LL Chambertin is trash tier wine. Had a 2006 I wouldn’t pay $25 for. Huge pass.

It is a reflection of secular movements in the terms of trade. It wasn’t all that long ago that a bottle of Louis Latour Chambertin would buy the lion’s share of a bottle Rousseau Chambertin.

Had it last year and not worth the price IMHO. In fact I was pretty disappointed by it.

Save your money and buy less bottles from a better producer.

JF

Is there a worse producer with the holdings they have?

Funny Charlie, racking my brain and can’t come up with one with red holdings like LL. 66 acres of GC holdings is crazy, curious % of red, must be 80-90%.

I’ve tried their GC white and red lineup for 2014 and 2015. I was impressed across the board, the clear standout was the Romanee St. Vivant 2015. The 2016 is even better I’ve heard. Was hoping NM would review the 2016 as he reviewed most the lineup, but did not review the RSV.

Chapoutier?

Not your style is not the same, sure you’d add Guigal too, which is all good. I’ve never had the 100 point Parker experience with Chapoutier, but the two L’Ermite wines have been very good, but I have a very narrow tasting history on both at their top level wines.

Thanks everyone for your comments - very helpful! I have not had a LL red before and had some concerns about the quality of the reds generally, so good to get solid feedback here.

Bichot? Champy? Camus? Nah, Latour wins.

Alan,
Have you tried Bichot lately? The wines have substantially improved in the past couple of years as for the others, not so much…

Bichot have been making great wine for a long time now - some of (domaine) Champy too, their Mazy has been great for a long time - biodynamic farming for a while and further improvement coming with input/investment from Advini. Camus - well, they are Camus - no change there for now, but given the ages of the family, it will happen sooner, rather than later. Louis Latour confound me though - I quite like their whites, and their reds before bottling taste fine - but post-bottling they are dumb, dumb, dumb - I’ve sometimes found no difference between their Pernand and their Romanée St.Vivant - can it be the pasteurisation? I don’t know - the old wines I come across are fine and never show brett or leather aromas - presumably courtesy the pasteurisation - but I’m not prepared to wait 30-40 years for my own purchases to see them in a better light…

GIven that you can at least see the vineyard differences chez Camus, then I think Alan’s right - Latour wins…

Bichot with wines are good, but the wines of each of its individual Domaines taste almost identical when young, which is what LL is being accused of by some.

Have you some examples of that?

Wonder if that has to do with filtration and fining?

Pasteruisaton ( for LL wines ) …for sure.

Bichot’s entry-level burgundy are more than reasonable in Quebec Canada.

His PN (Bourgonge - VV) is at around CA$18 per bottle. You could buy them in the Depot for 15% off for a case of 12. .

I was talking historically since my post 05 experience is lacking. Of wines I’d drink w some maturity, those are domaines I’d avoid. I keep seeing older vintages on the cheap being offered, trying to ride on the recent coattails of better vintages.